Hint: "how useful is software without regular updates?" vs. "how useful is a music recording without regular updates""
CD Quality Is Not High-Res Audio
- Thread starter NorthStar
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Hint: "how useful is software without regular updates?" vs. "how useful is a music recording without regular updates""
The internet is my liner notes, I shall not want. Seriously, listening to music from a server, with an iPad or laptop in my hands? I have access to more information about the artist/album/track in question than I've ever had before. More access to art, too. Booklets, and cover art, are a non-issue for me, YMMV.
And if you're looking for value, all you have to do is develop a tin ear...you know, the kind that doesn't hear anything above 20khz, and only hears IMD and other artifacts of ultrasonic content pushed into the audible range? Get there, then get ye to the used CD store where you can collect other people's purchases at about 50 cents on the dollar, take them home, rip them to your HD, take them back and sell them if you must. I don't. I trash the plastic and paper and keep them in binders for final, last resort backup.
Then when I find the occasional re-master for hi-res that I want, I pay for it...then rip it to my HD. I don't keep an audiophile player in my Mac, so it only plays back at 16/44.1. Like I said this is a great path, but only if your hearing is limited, like mine.
Tim
yes; but unless you go to 1/2 Price Books or another music store where you get maybe $1 apiece for CD's, how much effort will it take to sell them? and will it be worth your time.
how many years ago was it when you got $5 apiece for 500+ CD's......likely not in the last 2 or 3 years. i'm not marginalizing any money one might earn as not important; but it does come down to time value, and that is different for everyone. i know that if i 'gave' my whole CD collection to my son or daughter they would not be able to justify the time to sell them, let alone me. maybe if i was retired and had lots of extra time i could deal with a project like that.
and right now digital files have more value than discs to most people, not less. but mostly files get traded, not sold outright.
i meant nothing personal with my comments and i apolgize if you took it that way. i purchased all my discs and 'almost' all my downloads at retail over a 20 year period. we are talking 20,000 individual recordings in my collection. a huge investment. i've never sold any of my recordings and never will. so resale value is not on my radar as an issue. but i know lots of people do buy and sell recordings and only keep a core collection. there is no right approach for everyone. my only point was that resale value of digital discs is a poor reason for sticking with discs for most people. not that you cannot do it, but it has limited value for most people.
remember; i do have 5500 discs already. and they are not going anywhere. it's not that i don't like them. only that i don't want to give any more space to them. we all have our own situations, for me i am done collecting silver discs except for rare situations.
Bad analogy Mike and you know it. Don't compare music or video with computer software. And yes, I love the tactile feel of the booklet and reading the liner notes.
We do have our ways indeed. I'm glad to like mine!
i agree on the liner notes, lots of great information and likely the source of a good percetage of how learned about new music and what led me to other music.
If you take the time to show me what you got Mike, perhaps we can make a certain deal that would satisfy both of us. :b
- Space: Albums take a lot of space.
- Downloads are much easier than albums: True. ...And than CDs too.
- Tapes sound best. But tapes aren't found on every corner of our cities.
LPs have liner notes too (most of them), and sitting in your favorite chair and reading them as we listen to the music is the way we were raised.
But true, nowadays we sit in that same chair with our iPads.
Retro: A lot of people love those older disco mirror/light balls. :b ...That is from the LP era, the 70s.
The silver discs from the 80s with their holes in the pits (you can see through them; manufacturing faults) were just an expansion of that disco ball.
1988-89 (very bad years for CDs; in vast general) to 2013; that's a quarter century. ...And look at where we are now at! ...Into albums and turntables.
Many here love their liner notes; from their records (LPs). ...And me I love some pictures from my CDs. :b
* Sometimes they even include posters! ...Big or small (chamber music or full orchestras), I like both (but smaller takes less room).
That's about right.
Very hard to believe.
I didn't know that Francisco.
Bob,
while i did say that i felt that most of my silver discs were only worth $2 to $3 if i did want to sell them, i also said that i like them and they are not going anywhere.
i'm connected to those discs and the music on them.
my kids will have to deal with selling them someday i suppose, not me.
if at some point in my life i were to move to smaller digs and downsize the big rig then who knows what might go. i have no crystal ball. but it's hard to imagine that from where i stand.
while i did say that i felt that most of my silver discs were only worth $2 to $3 if i did want to sell them, i also said that i like them and they are not going anywhere.
i'm connected to those discs and the music on them.
my kids will have to deal with selling them someday i suppose, not me.
if at some point in my life i were to move to smaller digs and downsize the big rig then who knows what might go. i have no crystal ball. but it's hard to imagine that from where i stand.
Mike,
Is it legal to sell the CDs after you have downloaded them in a music server? I think that while you have them in the music server you are supposed to own the physical media.
Your reference to my post:
Are you calling me a liar, Bob? I sure as hell hope not, because you've just stooped to a new low.
exactly. 'fair use' is covered to personal uses. you could burn them to your music server and your phone, for you and other 'related' household members. but once you no longer have possesion of the disc itself, your rights to have the files are gone.
a friend tried to donate a large CD collection to a library; but when they asked him whether he had files from those CD's and he said yes, they told him they could not accept the CD's unless he destroyed those files.
would anyone be prosecuted? likely not, but they could be.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
That's why the Kaleidoscape system constantly monitors your physical media, even though the files are on the hard drives.
How many people here are entertaining themselves in illegal music downloading activities; please raise your left hand. :b
* John, relax; don't assume untrue stuff. ..."Hard to believe" means just that.
** Mike, I understand. By the way, you can get the CD Bible (there are few of those, and each year they improve, just like the Guinness Book of Records), which enumerates many many CD titles, with their serial numbers (& record labels), and with an estimation value for each one.
It is amazing what you can discover in your own collection; and what's worth searching for (eg.; some Rolling Stone's CD). :b
* John, relax; don't assume untrue stuff. ..."Hard to believe" means just that.
** Mike, I understand. By the way, you can get the CD Bible (there are few of those, and each year they improve, just like the Guinness Book of Records), which enumerates many many CD titles, with their serial numbers (& record labels), and with an estimation value for each one.
It is amazing what you can discover in your own collection; and what's worth searching for (eg.; some Rolling Stone's CD). :b
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i have various 'rare' and valuable CD's that i've seen sell on ebay for silly dollars. i have most of the DCC Gold and many of the early MOFI's....and almost all XRCD's and on and on.
and all those Stones SACD's and others.
someday i'll get around to selling some of them that are crazy valuable.....particularly where i have better analog alternatives. my issue is i always have something better to do with my time.
I'm certainly well aware of the fact that the resale value of CD has bottomed-out, but that wasn't my point. Whether $2 or $10, it is still represents some value that can be applied to other purchases.
Don't assume things of which you know nothing. I have indeed sold a 500+ CD collection in one shot for well over $5 each, and quite frankly it couldn't have come at a better time. I didn't want to sell them, but I'm glad I had a tangible product to sell. Try doing that with your d/l files.
Oh, and on the matter of not being able to legally sell them. Don't you think I'm aware that? But remember, that is not the real world. I'm glad to hear however that you've risen above that and can afford to take a loss on everything you sell. I can't.
Very important: I DO NOT illegally download or own any pirated software of any kind.
They are easier to use. As far as storage, I don't have your problem, so it's a non-issue for me.
Bad analogy Mike and you know it. Don't compare music or video with computer software. And yes, I love the tactile feel of the booklet and reading the liner notes.
We do have our ways indeed. I'm glad to like mine!
John-Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? This doesn't sound like you.
I'm in pain and I'm not getting laid this weekend. Any more questions?
Nope. That draws a clear picture for me!
See! :b
The Stone's CD that is worth over $1,000 (USA dollars) is not a SACD title by the way.
Here I'm talking strictly CDs. ...Pink Floyd too has some quite valuable CDs.
I got few of those CD Bibles, and for a CD collector like you and I, it is a valuable tool to add in our collection. ...It's part of it.
I don't know of any Music Download Bible though. ...Albums (LPs), yes, and like CDs the more mint their condition the higher their value.
...And in all their original packaging, of course.
* The physical world has more value than the virtual one.
I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason for the relatively high price of downloads is the expectation that piracy will occur. I have already been approached by some acquaintances wondering if I want to join a "pool" of buyers to share the cost of downloads, and given my relative social isolation from many audiophiles (at least in terms of knowing them well), if I've been approached then I'm sure many have already been doing it for years. Piracy? probably on a small scale, but no one is talking about paying nothing for the music, just less than the "retail" price.
My advice: keep your music CD collection in the family (legacy/kid's inheritance). My best guess is that someone sometimes (your blood) will benefit the true rewards.
Patience (time) is the true value of both physical and virtual worlds. ...The content (software) is king, the gear (hardware) is queen.
Just make sure you store them so they don't go bad. Watch out for foam separators in multi-CD boxes.
I'm sure Mike takes good care of his CDs, and albums too. ...Many good ways to store them properly: in plastic containers with top closed, in drawers, in shelves on your walls with each inside a plastic cover (like LPs); the full jewel box (all my precious ones are stored like this).
{I own CDs that are over a quarter century old; I think they still play, but I don't play them because they were already bad (recorded) back then.}
Foam; you're right, never keep any foam (with CDs, DVDs, anything at all). I learned that a long time ago; they disintegrate in dust particles and attack everything around.
Foam don't last, and make a big mess. The who who will invent a product better than foam properties (for beds, furniture, acoustic panels, bass traps, insulation, etc.) that can last 50-100 years without disintegrating is a rich man.
Having your music inside your hard-drive is a better proposition to have it last longer, I think.
Hundred years from now; the albums and the CDs from say twenty years ago, which ones would be in better shape?
...Or the music from your hard-drive (on files)?
Or it won't matter because better recordings/remastering will be then available in more compact and solid formats, like the size of a quarter, and much better hi-res downloads.
The music of Miles Davis will be rediscovered again, and new music stuff will be available from (played by and recorded by) the new drug addicts of hundred years from now. ...Jazz, Classical, Trip-Hop, New Age, Viking Rock, African, etc., plus all the new music genres of the year 2113.
But us, forget about it, we won't last!
...Even less than half of that. ...Maybe one third for the luckiest ones.
Out of those, the ones to be a bit careful with are the plastic covers - cheap ones can laminate with the CD's if they get too warm.
The music on your hard drive should last for eternity - as long as you keep transferring it to "modern" media. I have a heck of a lot of stuff that is on old 9-track data tapes, or on data cartridges, or zip drives, or old hard disks that are unlikely to work very well any more, are in a file format used by some ancient operating system, and need a reader that nobody younger than 35 has ever seen except in a museum
That is really the most likely scenario - it will all be out there in the "cloud", no need for you to store it physically any more. Bit of a shame.
And maybe more advanced digital processing algorithms will be able to recover some more information from the old recordings, just like we can now restore recordings from old phonograph rolls.
But us, forget about it, we won't last!
All too true.
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